Night Fury's Venom

Part 32: Hope

"I found him!"

I chased after Toothless as quietly as I could, hope blooming in my chest at those three words. For some reason, the Queen didn't have Hiccup off the island yet—not that I was complaining. It just meant I wouldn't lose him!

Toothless suddenly came to a stop and ducked, shoving my head down with a wing. I was about to snap at him when I heard a voice. "Alpha said I had a head injury. I'm probably hearing and smelling fake things..." My eyes widened. That was Hiccup! "Maybe I don't have to worry so much. That makes this so much easier!"

I peeked through the foliage to see a battered Dark One smiling and wandering through the forest. He looked like he was searching for something. I happened to catch a glance at his eyes, and it felt like my heart had stopped. I had seen enslaved dragons before, so it was nothing new to me, but I was shocked to feel so much rage from seeing his slitted pupils.

Maybe I like him more than I thought...?

"He's headed toward our cave, I think," Toothless whispered, turning his head to look at me. "We should- Woah, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I grumbled, feeling myself trembling in anger. I tried to calm down, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. "Let's go. I don't want to lose track of him."

"Uh, sure..." Toothless murmured as I stepped around him. I could feel his worried gaze against my hide, but I ignored it. I hated the Queen even more for taking another dragon's free will, especially Hiccup's. He hasn't been a dragon for long, and he's already been enslaved. What better way to say 'welcome to being a dragon' than having your mind stolen? I couldn't help but wonder if Hiccup was weak-minded. How long did it take for him to become enslaved? How long did he resist?

"Why are you mad?" Toothless whispered out of the blue, "we will free Hiccup, don't worry."

"It's not that," I whispered, trying to keep control over my anger. "She stole Hiccup from me! She-" I cut myself off too late.

Toothless smirked. "Stole from you?" He whispered teasingly, "you are definitely in love."

"It's not love!" I hissed softly, "I'm only attracted to him! There, I admitted it! Are you happy now?"

"Nah," he whispered dismissively, "I already knew about that. I've got bigger fish to catch now, and that fish is that you love him!"

I held back a groan. He would always find something new to tease me about! "You said that about the Spine-Tail a few moons ago, and I didn't like him at all!"

Toothless crawled under a partially fallen tree. "Okay, I admit I was wrong about that one, but I'm not wrong now!"

"Shut up," I whispered half-heartedly. I knew it was useless to try and convince him otherwise. He was quite the stubborn dragon when he wanted to be.

We slowed to a stop just before the tiny clearing in front of the cave. Hiccup had stopped in front of it, peering inside cautiously. "I'm probably smelling things again," he muttered, "I wonder if alpha can fix my head..."

I glanced at Toothless with confusion. "He tried to fly away," Toothless whispered softly, "and he ended up crashing. I think the Queen lied to him about the reason why." He shot me a smile. "You know, Hiccup isn't weak." I blinked. How did he know about that? "I have watched him since the crash, and he keeps getting distracted. I think he was told to find someplace to rest, but he doesn't seem to listen to that too often. I think he might still be there in his head, and he's trying to disobey the Queen."

That sounded worse! If that was true, then Hiccup was trapped inside his own head! "We have to get him out," I hissed, "how are we going to free him?"

Toothless watched Hiccup walk inside the cave for a moment. "The easiest way is a hard hit on the head," he finally replied, "but we have to be careful. If we hit too hard, he could die, but if we don't hit hard enough, he'll just get very angry at us."

"Then how do we know how hard to hit?"

He chuckled. "We don't. Every dragon has a different tolerance to falling unconscious, so all we can do is try." Wonderful, we were going to hit Hiccup in the head for a chance that he wouldn't die or try to kill us. Oh, good Moon above, grant me good luck.

"Alright, then let's-"

"Hold on there," Toothless murmured, "we won't go in yet. Wait for him to fall asleep first."

I hid my embarrassment, laying back down slowly and saying nothing. Obviously we had to wait for him to sleep first! He would see us too soon if we just ran in there right now, then we wouldn't be able to get close enough.

So, we wait.

"How long does it take one dragon to fall asleep?!" I hissed impatiently.

Apparently, when Hiccup was enslaved, he was very watchful. The sun had set not too long ago, and there were still sounds of movement inside. We couldn't wait too long, or the Queen's dragons—we had no doubt she sent some—would be here, and it would be too late.

"Maybe we should just try anyway?" Toothless suggested, "we don't have many options." I nodded slowly. We had to try.

Thankfully, a rabbit showed us why that was a horrible idea.

The second the rabbit jumped out of the bushes and into the clearing, a bolt of fire shot out the mouth of the cave and annihilated the animal.

Our jaws dropped in unison. "Stormfly," Toothless whispered, "I take it back, we can wait a little longer."

"Agreed," I mumbled, staring at the dark cave fearfully.

We were just about to do what that rabbit did, and if Hiccup was that vigilant, then we didn't stand a chance. No matter how skilled we are in combat compared to him, we couldn't risk it. He would fire at us while we were at range, but we couldn't do the same without hurting him. Unfortunately, he had a pretty good aim for an enslaved dragon.

So, we waited some more. I tried to entertain myself with listening to the nightlife or cleaning my scales, but I found that the quiet forced me into my thoughts most of the time. I kept thinking about Hiccup and how I felt about him. I had to stop myself multiple times because I kept going around in circles. I always ended up with how he still thought of himself as a Scaleless and imagining our relationship failing due to how Scaleless hated dragons. What if-

"Stormfly," Toothless whispered, "are you ready?"

I blinked, realizing the soft sound of snoring was coming from the cave. "Yes. What's the plan?"

"I have the strongest tail, so I will be hitting him on the head," he murmured, "what you need to do is be my backup. If I don't hit hard enough and he wakes up, you need to hold him down so I can do it again."

I winced. "Alright... I'll try."

"Good," he hummed softly, "let's go."

We stalked across the clearing, seeing a large lump lying in the center of the cave. Toothless crept up to Hiccup's prone form, waiting for me to get in position by his head. I nodded when he looked at me. I watched as Toothless swung his tail in a high arc before brutally slamming in top of Hiccup's head.

Hiccup screeched, now very wide awake. "YOU!" He roared, "alpha wants you dead-"

I lunged and bit onto his neck, holding his suddenly struggling head still as Toothless slammed hard enough to send pain through my neck, knocking him out of my grip. Hiccup collapsed, but he was still awake. "Ngh... y-you won't have me... alpha owns m-me..."

"Get out of his head!" I roared. Toothless slammed his tail down much harder. Hiccup instantly went limp, making me freeze. "Please be alive..." I whined. I watched his flank fearfully, relieved to see the steady rise and fall of his breathing. "Thank the Moon!"

I laid down next to Hiccup, draping a wing over him protectively. "Never again," I whispered, "I will protect you..."